Communications networks are expanding and becoming faster in response to demand for access by an ever-increasing amount of people and for demand for quicker response times and more data-intensive applications. Examples of such communications networks are for providing computer communications. Many computer users initially used, and many to this day still use (there are an estimated 53 million dial-up subscribers currently), telephone lines to transmit and receive information. To do so, these people convey information through a modem to convert data from computer format to telephone-line format and vice versa. Presently, a multitude of computer users are turning to cable communications. It is estimated that there are 5.5 million users of cable for telecommunications at present, with that number expected to increase rapidly in the next several years.
In addition to cable, there are other currently-used or anticipated broadband communications network technologies, with others as yet to be created sure to follow. Examples of other presently-used or presently-known broadband technologies are: digital subscriber line (DSL) with approximately 3 million subscribers, satellite, fixed wireless, free-space optical, datacasting, and High-Altitude Long Operation (HALO).
Broadband networks currently serve millions of subscribers, with millions more to come. These networks use large numbers of network elements, such as Cable Modem Termination Systems (CMTSs) physically distributed over wide areas, and other network elements, such as Cable Modems (CMs) located, e.g., in subscribers' homes. With so many network elements, problems in the networks are a common occurrence. Monitoring networks to assess network performance, and locating and correcting, or even preferably anticipating and preventing, network problems are desirable functions that are potentially affected by the increasing number of subscribers, and corresponding size and complexity of networks.